U.S. Must Put Out the Fire in #Iraq — With Ground Troops

So far the first analysis I've read thus far expliciting calling for a ground troop deployment.

From Frederick Kagan, at the New York Daily News, "Put out this fire":

President Obama says that he is mulling options for providing support to Iraq, but with great reluctance. "The U.S. is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis," he said Friday.

A political plan for Iraq is vital. Everything the administration has said about the sectarianism and mis-governance of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki is true. Assistance to Iraq must include strong conditions to press Maliki to change his approach - or leave office.

But the Iraqis need vigorous and intelligent American involvement right now to prevent a stalemate that will leave ISIS in control of much of northern Iraq. That is an unacceptable outcome, one that would do far more damage to America than our retreat from Vietnam in 1975.

We face a simple choice: We can either rejoin our demoralized Iraqi partners in the fight against ISIS or we can watch as this Al Qaeda franchise solidifies its control over several million Iraqis and Syrians, completes its plundering of military bases and continues to build up, train and equip an honest-to-goodness military.

Rejoining the fight means immediately sending air support; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets; air transportation; Special Operations forces; training teams; and more military equipment back into Iraq. It does not mean re-invading Iraq.

Immediately sending air support and Special Forces to Mosul might shock ISIS and embolden the population enough to rout the jihadis from the city. But if it does not, the Iraqi Security Forces may well prove unable to regain Mosul on their own.

In that case, a small contingent of U.S. ground forces would be required...

Keep reading.

RELATED: At the Wall Street Journal, "Militants Claim Photos Show Mass Execution in Iraq: Twitter Account Associated With ISIS Appears to Dozens of Captured Men in Civilian Clothes," and "Iraq Militants Claim Soldier Massacre: Photos of Alleged Killings Posted Online as U.S., Iran Near Talks on Cooperation to Counter Insurgents."

Also at Long War Journal, "ISIS photographs detail execution of Iraqi soldiers."